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Mike Heatwole VP Public Affairs, Pebble Partnership: “Some of the top line findings that we have been talking about heavily focus on the fact that the project would not heavily impact either Bristol Bay or the Cook Inlet.” To date, about 8,400 public comments have been uploaded to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement website with more incoming, according to a release from the Corps. Facebook0TwitterEmailPrintFriendly分享The deadline for submitting comments for the Pebble Limited Partnership draft environmental impact statement is July 1. The Corps will consider all comments received by that date before finalizing the document and making a permit decision. You can also make a public comment online by clicking here. Any personal information submitted, included names, addresses or email information, will be accessible on public record. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved an extension to the public comment period for an additional 30-days back in May for draft EIS.The extension brings the length of the public comment period to 120-days. To mail in your public comment, address your envelope to:U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska DistrictATTN: DA Permit Application 2017-271, Pebble Limited Partnership645 G Street Suite 100-921Anchorage, Alaska 99501read more

Tags Comments Share your voice Facebook Mobile Tech Industry 10 Now playing: Watch this: Facebook is putting women on the front line of its war… 4:06 Staff sit at computers inside a Facebook content moderation center in Berlin. Soeren Stache/Getty Images Some of the workers saw video of a man being stabbed to death. Others viewed acts of bestiality or animals being tortured. Suicides and beheadings popped up too.The reason for watching the gruesome content: to determine whether it should be pulled from Facebook before more members of the world’s largest social network could see it.Content moderators protect Facebook’s 2.3 billion users from exposure to humanity’s darkest impulses. Scouring posts that’ve been flagged by other members of the social network or by the Silicon Valley giant’s artificial intelligence tools, they quickly decide what stays up and what comes down. But reviewing the posts comes with a cost. Constant exposure to violence, hatred and sordid acts can wreak havoc on a person’s mental health. Former content moderators have already filed a lawsuit against Facebook in which they say repeated exposure to violent images caused psychological trauma. There’s a reason being a content moderator has been called “the worst job in technology.”It’s also an important job, and one that isn’t handled by Facebook employees. Instead, it’s outsourced to contractors, some of whom turn to drugs and sex in the workplace to distract themselves from the abhorrent images they see every day, according to a February story in The Verge, which reported that some of the workers make as little as $28,800 per year. That’s just over the federal poverty level for a family of four. Facebook said in May that it plans to raise the minimum hourly wage for contract workers, which is currently $15 per hour. Details of the working conditions of content moderators are still coming out. On Wednesday, The Verge reported that a content moderator who worked at a site in Florida operated by Cognizant died after having a heart attack at his desk. The site in Tampa was reportedly a stressful, dirty and unhealthy environment. Cognizant says that it works to “ensure a safe, clean, and supportive work environment.”Contracting in the tech industry has reached a flashpoint, escalating tensions in Silicon Valley’s world of haves and have-nots. Contractors and temps don’t get the health care or retirement benefits that full-time employees do, a difference that hasn’t gone unnoticed. Last year, contract workers at Google protested, demanding higher wages and benefits.Facebook said Wednesday it works with its contractors “to provide a level of support and compensation that leads the industry.” The social media giant also said its thoughts go out to family, friends and co-workers of the deceased moderator.”There will inevitably be employee challenges or dissatisfaction that call our commitment to this work and our partners’ employees into question,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “When the circumstances warrant action on the part of management, we make sure it happens.”Here’s a look at five of the companies that have worked with Facebook to police content.CognizantA multinational provider of services to technology, finance, health care, retail and other companies, Cognizant offers services including app development, consulting, information technology and digital strategy.Based in Teaneck, New Jersey, Cognizant has roughly 281,600 employees around the world, according to its annual report. Nearly 70 percent of its workforce is in India.The company’s role in supporting Facebook’s content moderation activities was the subject of recent stories in The Verge, which reported that roughly 1,000 Cognizant employees at its Phoenix office evaluate posts for potentially violating Facebook rules against hate speech, violence and terrorism. Cognizant Technology Solutions office in Chennai, India. The company works with Facebook on content moderation. Madhu Kapparath/Getty Images The workers get two 15-minute breaks, a 30-minute lunch and nine minutes of “wellness time” per day. They also have access to counselors and a hotline, according to the report.Still, some workers said that constant exposure to depravity has taken its toll. One former content moderator said he started to believe conspiracy theories, such as 9/11 being a hoax, after reviewing videos promoting the idea that the terrorist attack was faked. The former employee said he had brought a gun to work because he feared that fired employees would return to the office to harm those who still had jobs. Cognizant said in February it looked into “specific workplace issues raised in a recent report,” that it had “previously taken action where necessary” and that it has “steps in place to continue to address these concerns and any others raised by our employees.”The company outlined the resources it offers employees, including wellness classes, counselors and a 24-hour hotline.Cognizant also runs a site in Tampa, Florida that employs about 800 workers, according to The Verge. Workers at that facility have filed two sexual harassment complaints against coworkers since April. “Like any large employer, Cognizant routinely and professionally responds to and addresses general workplace and personnel issues in its facilities,” Cognizant said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our Tampa facility is no different. Cognizant works hard to ensure a safe, clean, and supportive work environment for all of our associates.”PRO UnlimitedBased in Boca Raton, Florida, PRO Unlimited provides services and software used by clients in more than 90 countries. Last year, Selena Scola, a former PRO Unlimited employee, who worked as a Facebook content moderator, filed a lawsuit alleging that she suffered from psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by viewing thousands of disturbing images of violence. Scola’s PTSD symptoms can pop up when she hears loud noises or touches a computer mouse, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was amended to include two more former content moderators who worked at Facebook through staffing companies. “Her symptoms are also triggered when she recalls or describes graphic imagery she was exposed to as a content moderator,” the lawsuit states, referring to Scola.Filed in superior court in Northern California’s San Mateo County, the lawsuit alleges Facebook violated California law by creating dangerous working conditions. Facebook content moderators are asked to review more than 10 million posts per week that may violate the social network’s rules, according to the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status.At the time the original lawsuit was filed, Facebook acknowledged the work can be stressful and said it requires the company it works with for content moderation to provide support such as counseling and relaxation areas.Facebook in a court filing denied Scola’s allegations and called for the case to be dismissed. A Facebook spokeswoman said the social media giant no longer uses PRO Unlimited for content moderation. PRO Unlimited didn’t respond to a request for comment.AccentureOne of the most prestigious consultancies in the world, Dublin-based Accenture has more than 459,000 people serving clients across 40 industries and in more than 120 countries, according to its website.People enter an Accenture office in downtown Helsinki. Jussi Nukari/Getty Images In February, Facebook content reviewers at an Accenture facility in Austin, Texas, complained about a “Big Brother” environment, alleging they weren’t allowed to use their phones at their desk or take “wellness” breaks during the first and last hour of their shift, according to a memo obtained by Business Insider. “Despite our pride in our work, Content Moderators have a secondary status in [the] hierarchy of the workplace, both within the Facebook and the Accenture structure,” the memo read. Accenture didn’t respond to a request for comment. At the time, Facebook said there had been a “misunderstanding” and that content moderators are encouraged to take wellness breaks at any time throughout the day. Some of Accenture’s clients have included other tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon. More than three-quarters of Fortune Global 500 companies work with Accenture. ArvatoOne of Facebook’s largest content moderation centers is in Germany, a country that started enforcing a strict hate speech law last year that would fine social media companies up to 50 million euros ($58 million) if they didn’t pull down hate speech and other offensive content quickly enough. Arvato, owned by the German media company Bertelsmann, runs a content moderation center in Berlin. The company has faced complaints about working conditions and the toll the job takes on workers’ mental health.In 2017, Arvato said in a statement that it takes the well-being of its employees seriously and provides health care and access to company doctors, psychologists and social services. The company, based in Gütersloh, Germany, has 70,000 employees in more than 40 countries. It’s been providing Facebook with content moderation services since 2015. Arvato, which was rebranded last week as Majorel, said it offers content moderators a salary that’s 20 percent above minimum wage and support such as wellness classes and counselors. Workers can also take “resiliency breaks” at any time of the day.”We are proud to be a partner of Facebook and work in alignment with them to offer a competitive compensation package that includes a comprehensive benefits package,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “We will continue to work together to improve our offerings and support of our employees.” GenpactNew York-based professional services firm Genpact won a contract with Facebook last year to provide content moderation, according to The Economic Times.Concerns about the mental health of Facebook content moderators weren’t enough to scare off applicants in India, who flocked to jobs that paid between 225,000 and 400,000 rupees a year (about $3,150-$5,600). Genpact was searching for content moderators fluent in Tamil, Punjabi and other Indian languages.Some Genpact workers have complained about low pay and a stressful work environment, according to a report this week by Reuters. One former Genpact employee told the news outlet that at least three times he’s “seen women employees breaking down on the floor, reliving the trauma of watching suicides real-time.”Facebook pushed back against allegations of low pay but outlined the work it was doing to improve working conditions for content moderators. In an email, a Genpact spokesperson confirmed that it partners with Facebook but said it doesn’t comment on work with clients. “As a company we bring our extensive experience in the field of content review and operations to our partners by providing industry-leading support for our team of content reviewers and a best-in-class working environment,” the Genpact spokesperson said in a statement. “We take very seriously this work and the services that we provide to our clients.”First published on March 1 at 4:00 a.m. PTUpdate, 4:03 p.m. PT: Includes new material from Facebook about PRO Unlimited. Update, 5:24 p.m. PT: Includes material about an amended lawsuit against Facebook.Update, June 19: Includes new reported details of a Cognizant facility in Tampa, Florida. read more

Samantha and Bellamkonda Sai Srinivas in Alludu SeenuTwitterActress Samantha Akkineni is said to have rejected RX 100 fame director Ajay Bhupathi’s offer to play the female lead opposite Bellamkonda Sai Srinivas in his upcoming movie even after her remuneration was doubled.Some star kids like Akhil Akkineni, Allu Sirish, Varun Tej and Sai Dharam Tej made their acting debut in recent years, but none of their first movies featured an A-list actress in the female lead. Their parents and the filmmakers had played it safe and roped in newbies for the heroines’ roles.But Bellamkonda Suresh took a different path by bringing in A-list actress Samantha Akkineni and director VV Vinayak on board for his son Bellamkonda Sai Srinivas’ launch movie Alludu Seenu (2014). But the producers failed to get him a big break with it. Srinivas has done four other movies, which also featured most sought-after actresses, but failed to give him the much-needed break.Bellamkonda Sai Srinivas, who has teamed up with director Ajay Bhupathi of RX 100 fame for his next project, does not seem to have learned a lesson from his failures as he is still after popular heroines. It is rumoured that the actor wants to romance Samantha Akkineni again in this movie, which is tentatively titled Mahasamudram.It is reported that Mahasamudram is set against mafia backdrop and it is going to be high on action quotient. It is said that there is a little scope for the acting of the female lead. It is said to be more of a glamourous role with a big twist. Ajay Bhupathi is said to be expecting a lot of glamour treat from his leading lady.Ajay Bhupathi reportedly approached Samantha Akkineni with this offer. The makers were ready to give her double payment as remuneration for this role. But the actress is said to have rejected this offer and the reason is yet to be known. However, sources from the industry claim that she has stopped accepting glamour roles after tying the knot with her boyfriend Naga Chaitanya.Samantha Akkineni, who was last in bilingual movie U-Turn, has Tamil film Super Deluxe and two Telugu films like Majili and O Baby! Yentha Sakkagunnave in her kitty. Majili, which is slated for April 5 release, happens to be her first movie with husband Naga Chaitanya post-wedding. Hence, there is huge hype and curiosity about this film.read more

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina`s son and ICT affairs adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy. File PhotoSon of prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her information and communication affairs adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy said the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is no longer a political party.“The BNP is no longer a political party. They are a terrorist organisation. They should all be thrown into jail,” said Sajeeb in a Facebook post.He said the election process has barely started and the BNP has already resorted to violence.The party burned civilians alive in their arson attacks during 2013 and 2015, Sajeeb said.He pointed out even the Canadian courts have ruled that BNP is a terrorist organisation.

Map of ChattogramA suspected extortionist was beaten to death at Pahartali Bazar in Double Mooring area of Chattogram on Monday, reports UNB.The deceased, Mohiuddin Sohel, 27, was a listed drug trader of Khulshi area and he used to collect toll from traders of the bazaar, claimed locals.Sohel locked into an altercation with the traders around 11am when he went to the bazaar to collect toll, Double Mooring police station officer-in-charge Mohiuddin Selim quoted traders as saying.At one stage, the businessmen along with locals gave him a good beating, leaving him critically injured.Sohel was taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where physicians declared him dead.read more

New generations take inspiration from the glorious history of Bangladesh’s youth force in 1971 for bringing changes whenever necessary, the youth of today and of yesteryears acknowledge.Freeing the country was the main driving force, some freedom fighters recalled. Their joining the 1971 liberation war was triggered by the denial of democratic rights of people.The spirit of liberation war was reverberated during the subsequent movements, especially the one by students in 1990, to restore democracy in the country.While some see the 1990 movement as an extension of 1971, the youth today still dream of taking Bangladesh to the next stage of nation-building and development in the light of liberation war spirit. The young demonstrators of safe roads and some other recent movements have all shown their respect for the 1971 youth.Like some others of the 1971 generation, Md. Shahidul Alam, a freedom fighter from Kusthia’s Kumarkhali, had fixed his first objective to liberate the motherland from the occupation of the Pakistan military.“Of course then consciously, our collective dream was to get a democratic country where we’ll not face any disparity of any kind,” Shahidul said, lamenting that “many of our dreams of liberation war remain unfulfilled.”A college boy in 1971, Shahidul Alam was caught at the hands of razakars (auxiliary force of the Pakistani army) at the beginning of December when the nation was inching towards freedom, he told Prothom Alo.He was a freedom fighter, and so were his two other brothers. As a patron of the freedom fighters, his father was targeted by the Pakistani forces.He mentioned that at one night, the razakars held Shahidul and his father and took them to nearby riverbank in Kumarkhali and shot them. Shahidul’s father was shot dead and his body could never be recovered.Despite being bullet-hit in right arm and left leg, Shahidul managed to swim across the river.“To be honest, I didn’t have any of the high hopes in 71. My only thought was liberating our motherland so that we could breathe in a free country,” he said recently.With hindsight, he thought the Pakistani authorities committed two major mistakes by denying the Awami League power even after election victory in 1970 and by launching the crackdown on the Bangalees on 25 March 1971.Sad to see that many of the dreams of his generation not being materialised, Shahidul still leaves the responsibility to the younger generation of Bangladesh to work for fulfilling the dreams of older ones.Md Hamidur Rahman, another freedom fighter, emphasised the innocence in a fighter in joining war for the country.“Not all the freedom fighters had that deep understanding, but all had a common goal — to free the country,” said Hamidur, who was BSc student at Dhaka College and resident of Mohammadpur in 1971.“Initially we had nothing on our minds except saving our livee. Then we took training and joined the guerilla warfare.”Hamidur escaped the 25 March crackdown, left Dhaka city in early April and reached India through Nilphamari after a fateful journey of eight days.“We couldn’t even fully realise how powerful an army we’re fighting against. Only thing we had in mind was to get independence at any cost,” he pointed out.Masuk Ahmed Chowdhury of Sylhet is a bridge between generations two of his elder brothers were freedom fighters and he was a participant of the mass movement of 1990 that brought an end to the autocratic rule of HM Ershad.He thinks the dreams of 1971 might often be stumbled but the glorious history of nine months of war had always been the source of inspiration for youth.“It’s like passing the baton from one generation to another,” he said adding that the liberation war led to the student-mass upsurge of 1990 and that the target was democracy, also a key demand in 1971.“Getting a democratic country was one of the main guiding forces of our liberation war, a process which was resurfaced in 1990 after years of military rule,” Masuk expressed his views.When asked about their dreams, some youth observed that the freedom fighters had done their job.“We are at the age similar to most of freedom fighters during 1971. If they could do such an enormous task like liberating the country, why don’t we try to realise the dreams and the cause they fought for,” said Dhaka University student Ishrat Jahan, herself daughter of a freedom fighter.A truly democratic country free from corruption with equal rights for all is what she derived as her dream from the dreams of 1971.Nazmus Sakib, a student of Dhaka Residential Model School and College, said, “Freedom fighters should be given the most revered place in our history.”read more

By IRENA FISCHER-HWANG The Dallas Morning NewsDALLAS (AP) — Dr. Dale Okorodudu appears to be a perfectly ordinary guy: He has a mortgage, a wife and three young children whom he carts around in a black Kia Sorento.The Dallas Morning News reports the Carrollton resident is a pulmonary and critical care physician who specializes in treating lung ailments. But on his time off, Okorodudu juggles running a nonprofit, organizing national summits and — most recently — planning a feature-length documentary film.Not so ordinary, after all.In this July 2, 2019, photo Dr. Dale Okorodudu, M.D. poses for a portrait at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. On his time off, Okorodudu juggles running a nonprofit, organizing national summits and, most recently, planning a feature-length documentary film. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News via AP)Okorodudu’s activities are devoted to the singular goal of driving up the number of young Black men in the field of medicine.“When somebody closes their eyes and thinks about a Black male, they think about either an athlete, a musician, or somebody in prison,” says Okorodudu. “We want to add Black men in white coats to that stereotype.”Nearly five decades after the civil rights movement, Black men account for only 2.9% of applicants to U.S. medical schools, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC. The statistic’s damaging consequences are many: worse outcomes for Black patients, mistrust between patients and doctors, and the implicit message that Black men don’t belong in the clinic.So implicit, in fact, that one of Okorodudu’s patients — himself a Black man — thought that the bespectacled, soft-spoken man at his bedside was hospital transportation staff, not his physician.“I think he was embarrassed, a little bit,” says Okorodudu.It’s a telling symptom of the pernicious narrative forced upon the Black community. “The American dream is that you can become whatever you want in society,” says Okorodudu. “But unfortunately, the American dream isn’t told to Black boys.”At a recent local storytelling event, Okorodudu, who grew up outside of Houston, talked about the experiences that shaped him as an aspiring medical student. There was the unsolicited judgment from a perfect stranger on an airplane, the racial epithets hurled by professors, not to mention the patient who doubted his professional abilities — all because of the color of his skin.“Insecurity. Powerlessness. Feeling unwanted,” Okorodudu said at the event. “When you’re trying to get into a field that’s as difficult as the medical field, these are barriers that make it very hard to be successful.”So Okorodudu is spreading a different message through his website, Black Men in White Coats.The site is a one-stop resource portal that has supported hundreds of young Black students through a mentorship program, stories highlighting the career paths of successful health professionals and information about career-building opportunities.“We aim to inspire and give people hope,” says Okorodudu. “Black Men in White Coats is there to say, ‘You can be a doctor.’”For Okorodudu, hope came in the form of mentor figures and advocates he met along the way.To start: his family. “My parents are not medical doctors, but they are Nigerian immigrants” with high expectations, he says. As the youngest child, he watched his older siblings exceed their parents’ high academic standards with advanced degrees in computer science, medicine and law.When Okorodudu set off for college at the University of Missouri, he was guided by emeritus associate professor of pathology Dr. Ellis Ingram. Motivated by his own medical school experience in a post-Jim Crow South, Ingram would host early weekend morning meetings for minority students applying to medical school.“If they’re staying up partying all night, they didn’t come,” Ingram says, “but Dale was one of those students who would show up.”Okorodudu not only showed up, but also made a mental note to pay it forward. After completing medical school at Missouri, he moved to Duke University for his medical residency training.There, he started his own mentorship program.“I thought: There are so many kids who I should be able to easily mentor who are still in Missouri,” he says.He reached into his network and started an impromptu mentorship program that paired younger students with seasoned medical workers through monthly discussions and activities.But there was still more to do. In 2013, Okorodudu came across an AAMC report stating that the percentage of Black men applying to medical school in 2011 was actually lower than in 2002.“The study emphasized that we had to reach more people,” he says. “And the best way I knew how was to put out a video.” So he did. By May 2013, his fledgling mentorship program had evolved into Black Men in White Coats, a combination of in-person advising and virtual inspiration through videos.Okorodudu’s videos have reached even those studying the issue, including Dr. Marc Nivet, executive vice president for institutional advancement at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and former chief diversity officer for AAMC. Nivet was impressed by Okorodudu’s efforts, as well as his unique perspective.“There are a lot of passionate people about a lot of issues, so it takes somebody to have the aptitude and the attitude to be successful,” says Nivet. What sets Okorodudu apart is that “he realizes and appreciates that as he’s climbing, he has to lift others.”After finishing his residency, Okorodudu returned to Texas, where he sees patients out of the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In addition, he performs administrative duties and directs a program for underrepresented minorities in medicine at the UT Southwestern Medical Center.Meanwhile, Black Men in White Coats has grown to include a podcast and summit whose inaugural meeting in February — Black History Month — drew over 1,800 registrants.The mentorship that Okorodudu received during his professional journey gave him the confidence to excel and dream big. So big, in fact, that nobody questions his latest endeavor, a Kickstarter campaign to fund a Black Men in White Coats documentary. The campaign was promoted on NBC’s Today show and has raised over 70% of its $100,000 goal.Whatever he says, he’s going to do it!” laughs his wife, Dr. Janai Okorodudu, who practices family medicine. In college, “the first thing he told me was that he’d get a 4.0 GPA as apre-med,” she says. But, “after he got a 4.0, I stopped doubting him.”According to his family, Dale Okorodudu was single-minded from the start. On a recent Monday evening, he was at the Plano Sports Authority coaching the basketball team that includes his older son and nephew. Watching from the sidelines was his brother, computer scientist Tony Okorodudu, who recalled a young Dale’s obsession with joining the NBA.“There was a point in time when my parents banned Dale from mentioning the word ‘basketball,’” said Tony, “because he talked about it so much in elementary school.”Okorodudu’s boyhood dreams have morphed into a familiar focus and determination. Just before halftime, Janai had to tone down his enthusiastic coaching. “Calm down!” she called from the bleachers. “You’re going to get ejected!”It’s all part of Okorodudu’s hopes for his 8-year-old son. “I want to build up his confidence,” he says. “And I want that confidence on the court to translate into the rest of his life.”And will Okorodudu ever take it easy, either on or off the court? Hopefully, he says. “It’s one of those things where you want to put yourself out of a job,” he says. “If our efforts aren’t needed in five, 10 years, that’d be amazing.”___Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.comread more

Kolkata: With the incident of caving-in of the Majerhat bridge, a move has been taken to ensure that maintenance of all bridges above 12 metre in length is carried out by the state Public Works Department (PWD) and Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) in the area under its jurisdiction.According to a senior official of the state government, the move has been taken up considering that the two agencies are having the necessary number of manpower with the required expertise to carry out the maintenance of the bridges. As a result, an incident like Majerhat can be averted. Departments including PWD, Irrigation department, Panchayats and Rural Development department and the statutory planning usually make bridges across the state while in most cases, the KMDA undertakes the same in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. Also Read – Rain batters Kolkata, cripples normal lifeAccording to some state government officials, the matter regarding monitoring the “health” of bridges in the state and its proper maintenance have come up strongly after the caving-in of the Majerhat bridge. All the departments and the KMDA have carried out a study to check the condition of the bridges built by them. A database containing detailed information about all bridges in the state has been prepared too. Sources added that there was a subsequent discussion on the need for a proper mechanism to ensure better maintenance of the bridge. It is learned that the top brass of the state government assessed the situation and came to a conclusion that the PWD will carry out maintenance of all the bridges above 12 metre in length and the KMDA will carry out the same in the area under its jurisdiction. The Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) will also be undertaking maintenance of a few. There are 3,998 bridges across the state that was constructed by the state Irrigation department. Sources said that a section of the total number of the bridges will be maintained by the state PWD and KMDA. Similarly, above 12-metre long bridges made by other departments will also be maintained by the two agencies. Also Read – Speeding Jaguar crashes into Mercedes car in Kolkata, 2 pedestrians killedA senior official said monitoring and maintenance work of the bridges is a regular process. So the step has been taken up to carry out the work more effectively.It may be recalled that almost a year ago the state government had entrusted the state PWD to widen and strengthen roads even of Zilla Parishads as the former has the necessary expertise to carry out the work. The state PWD has already taken up more than 3,000 Zilla Parishad roads for widening and strengthening.read more

New Delhi: Newly-elected Trinamool Congress actor-turned-politicians Nusrat Jahan Ruhi and Mimi Chakraborty on Tuesday took oath in Bangla as members of the 17th Lok Sabha. The two could not take oath earlier as Nusrat Jahan recently got married to businessman Nikhil Jain in Turkey and Mimi Chakraborty was attending the wedding ceremony. Nusrat Jahan came to Parliament with a bunch of wedding bangles, in a white and purple saree and had henna based designs on her hands. Mimi also wore an ethnic Indian dress. After taking oath, Nusrat Jehan reportedly said that there were several things on her priority and she will raise the concerns of her voters in the House on Wednesday. Nusrat Jahan was elected from Basirhat and Mimi Chakraborty from Jadhavpur in West Bengal. The two took oath in Bangla and ended it with words like ‘Vande Mataram’, ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Jai Bangla’.read more

Tesco has done a deal with FindAnyFilm.com, adding its free online movie and TV service, Clubcard TV, to the content aggregation site. FindAnyFilm.com is designed to act as a one-stop shop for consumers to find legal film availability in the UK – encompassing download and streaming services, cinema listings, DVD, Blu-Ray and UltraViolet titles.“At a time of year when consumers are testing digital services on newly acquired devices, it’s wonderful to bring the addition of Clubcard TV’s movie content, which is free exclusively for the use of Clubcard customers, onto the Find Any Film service,” said Mark de Quervain, partnerships director of FindAnyFilm.Clubcard TV is the free OTT service for UK retailer Tesco’s 16 million loyalty card holders and is run by the people behind Blinkbox, the electronic sell-through service that Tesco bought in 2011.read more

Telenor’s Fornebu HQTelenor’s Canal Digital DTH pay TV unit saw continued decline of its subscriber base in the second quarter, dropping from 920,000 in March to 915,000 in June. Canal Digital saw revenues slip slightly in the second quarter, down from NOK1.119 billion (€134 million) to NOK1.109 billion.Overall, Telenor Broadcast, of which Canal Digital is a part, saw its revenues dip year-on-year in the second quarter, falling from NOK1.667 billion to NOK1.529 billion, with the sale of conditional access arm Conax contributing a NOK160 million drop. Telenor Satellite revenues also fell slightly, from NOK246 million to NOK239 million. Transmission services arm Norkring saw revenues rise from NOK260 million to NOK295 million.EBITDA for the Broadcast unit stood at NOK469 million, down from NOK543 million, while operating profit fell from NOK392 million to NOK330 million.Telenor Norway’s fixed line TV base remained stable at 530,000, up 1,000 quarter-on-quarter. Norwegian fixed TV ARPU fell slightly from NOK276 to NOK273. Fixed TV subscribers in Sweden fell by 4,000 quarter-on-quarter to 517,000.read more